Affliction
by hochmodel
Summary: We have all read stories about Felix glitching, but what about his one true love glitching? What will happen, and how will he cope? I do not own these characters


Calhoun couldn't keep her secret forever. Eventually her husband would find out. And when he did... she shuddered at the thought.

Felix was tougher than anyone gave him credit for. He was strong, brave, and willing and able to face any challenge. When Ralph had "gone turbo" as he put it... he had stayed (mostly) calm and rational (the Nesquick sand being the exception, and to her credit she didn't see him again till the final battle.) Felix always was and always will be her hero.

But she planned on keeping this secret from him.

"Alright ladies! Fear is a four letter word. You wanna go pee-pee in your big boy pants, keep it to yourselves!" She exclaimed with intimidating authority. Her men, scared of her and her punishments, immediately straightened up. Suddenly, her pixels turned blue and momentarily went out-of-focus. Her men glanced at her, curiously. "STOP STARING, BOYS! No big deal, just a momentary problem." The doors opened, revealing the cybugs. "Let's go! MOVE! MOVE!" The men ran in formation, even more terrified of their leader. But their fear was a fraction of hers. "Come on, Calhoun, this is not time to be scared. Just get through the day." With that, she mantled her gun, and ran after them.

That had been the first time. The second time was when she was shooting a cybug. She glitched, and the first-person shooter had been momentarily confused, stopping short. "Come on, Calhoun! Pull yourself together!" She thought angrily. She stopped glitching and shot her cybugs, continuing on as if nothing had happened. The kid shrugged his shoulders and continued the game. "I'm not glitching." She thought to herself. "I'm not glitching."

The third time, she was sleeping in her bed with Felix. He held her possessively, as he had always done since he had that nightmare of Turbo killing her (A/N See: Taken). Of course, she did not mind at all. Fortunately- or unfortunately, given your take on the situation- when her pixels fell apart, he was so sound asleep he didn't notice. She smiled and ruffled his hair. He frowned, and continued to snore. "One day I'm gonna die on him like Brad died on me." Realizing what she just thought, she banged her hand against her head, trying to shake her lugubrious thought. "No. I'M NOT GLITCHING!"

Though when he said he would meet her in his game when she woke up, jumped out of bed, and left, she couldn't leave her game. "I'm glitching," She whispered to herself, unable to deny the obvious anymore.

"Tammy, where were you earlier? I waited for you, sweetie." He told her, walking back into her game.

"Oh. Um-" She stuttered, trying to think of a good excuse. "I had to have emergency practice with my men. They are becoming rather slow." Some of her men overheard, and while they did not appreciate the blame, they understood why she said what she said. She had given them a briefing about what was happening to her. She told them to go on with her orders and under no circumstance were they to tell Felix; she also said to make arrangements for new homes, and that she would use her free time to train someone else to take her job.

Felix was a smart guy. While he may not have put the pieces together without her help, he knew something was up. She used to find any excuse for leaving her game; now she wouldn't ever leave it. She used to have a soft- if albeit small- smile on her face when she saw him; now, it was constantly in a worried and pondering frown. She used to tell him everything; now she can barely utter a word.

"Tammy, why won't you tell me what's wrong?" Felix asked her, growing impatient. He had begged her to tell him the reason for the random change in behavior for about a month. She always reassured him that everything was fine. He knew she wasn't cheating on him, and he hoped and prayed she wasn't considering a divorce. He was going, in short, crazy.

"Fix-it, I keep telling you-"

"Tammy, you're not okay. I know that. You used to look forward to seeing me. Now you barely acknowledge me because you're coming up with confidential strategies, which doesn't make sense anyway seeing as how this is a first-person shooter game. You hardly talk or smile anymore. And you always said you hated this place. Now, you refuse to leave. Also, why is Vanellope coming over a lot more often and you kick me out when she does? You say it's because she asked you for shooting lessons, but I'm smarter than that. Tamora," She turned from him, trying to keep the tears from her eyes. "Baby, _please_, talk to me." Felix begged her again in a low whisper.

"F-Fel-" She started, trying to keep her voice from cracking.

"Uh oh. She's calling me by my first name. Something REALLY is up." He thought. He hugged her waist. "Baby, are you unhappy with the marriage? Is that it? Just tell me. I'll try to work it out. I promise." She turned to face him, her smile returned and tears falling. She kissed the top of his head.

"No. I wouldn't dream of divorcing you." She was careful to not say _leaving. _After all, how long did she have?

"You're crying?!" Felix exclaimed. In their two years of dating and three years of marriage, he had never once seen tears spill from her eyes. In all honesty, he came to the conclusion that it was not possible for her to cry.

She laughed. "I can cry, you know."

"Whatever is wrong, you're not telling me because you're trying to protect me, right?" He asked, his tone growing in annoyance. Sergeant Calhoun was near perfection to him; though she did have a few traits that drove him off the wall. This was one of them.

"Felix, I'm not telling you because I don't want to see you in pain."

"But keeping secrets from me is causing me pain, honey." He stated softly.

She stared at him, trying to calm her intense emotions. "This would cause you more."

"Tammy I-" He immediately stopped, and his eyes grew wide and sorrowful. Tamora's pixels turned blue and separated, then they pieced themselves back together. She smiled at him. The tears continued to fall. He held her tightly, letting his own tears fall.

"Now do you see why I didn't want to tell you?"

"Tammy, I promise, we will make it through this. I swear with all my heart." She bent down to see him.

"Vanellope is helping me get this under control. And I'm training one of my men to take over my job. Hopefully no one will notice the difference."

Felix was very reluctant to leave her the next morning. He sluggishly left the bed with a pained look on his face. She kissed him on the lips. "Everything will be okay." H nodded and twisted a fake smile onto his face. He had to be strong. He walked out of her game and collapsed into his.

"Hey buddy!" Ralph exclaimed from behind him, catching him off guard.

"Oh, hi Ralph." He responded, twisting on the fake smile once more.

"Everything okay?" Ralph asked him. He had seen Felix's real smile so many times he could tell when Felix was lying. Felix was a horrible actor.

"Yes, everything is fine." While Felix wanted to tell his "brother" very badly why he was hurting so much, he knew that his wife would rather keep her...affliction private. But maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing; it's not like she explicitly told him not to.

"You sure?" He asked, his eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Actually, no. I'm not." Felix hugged his brother. Ralph held him close.

"What's the trouble?"

"Tamora."

"What about her?" Ralph asked softly. "Marriage problems?"

Felix actually laughed. "I wish, brother. I would much prefer that than the hoopla that we are being put through." Ralph patted the tiny handyman on the back-softly of course. "No...she's …glitching, Ralph."

"WHAT?!" He asked in alarm. Felix sighed, truing not to let his emotions overwhelm him.

"Felix, quarter!" they heard Gene call. Felix sighed again, and left Ralph. He ran behind the building to his side of the game.

"I'm gonna wreck it!" They heard Ralph say with more emotion than usual. Ralph pounded the apartments, shattering the glass in his pent-up frustration. True, he and Calhoun were not best friends like he and Vanellope, but he still liked her as a person (even if she was a little rough sometimes). He also loved her for making his "brother" so happy. Felix's smile was never as bright or sunny as when he finally got his "one-true-mate" as he put it. After the catastrophe with the "dynamite gal" phrase, he decided that it would be best to give her a new nickname.

"I'll fix it!" Felix was heard, straining and faking his smile- Ralph thought he'd never seen anything uglier. It was nothing compared to his real smile.

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"I'm worried about him, Vanellope." Ralph explained to her. She was lodged on one of the trees in the Candy Cane Forest. He was leaning against it, with his tired hand running through his messy hair. "I've never seen him so depressed. He drowns himself in his work, now. He hardly talks to us, anymore. I even caught him drunk at Tapper's once!" Ralph exclaimed, pained to see his brother drowning in hurt.

"When was he at Tappers?" Vanellope asked.

"I think when you were training her to control her...condition." Vanellope winced. She hated the fact that he could not just say glitch. She knew that it was all to do with Calhoun, but still...it stung to know that what she had was now reduced to a "condition."

"Sergeant Smiles (sarcastic nickname, of course) is acting a bit strangely, too. When I used to talk to her, it was all business. Now, she seems to actually want to make me laugh. She cracks jokes while we're training. I think she's trying to get closer to me." Vanellope looked sideways, thinking. "She says that every time she tries to train a new man, he chokes up. It's almost as though he physically cannot give orders. She can be the only one to do it. She has glitched a few times playing. She wants to hold herself together during the game, and let it go when there is no player. But it's getting harder. Kids are reporting the problem, now. Mr. Litwack hasn't done anything so far, seeing as how whenever he inspects it, she keeps herself together. But who knows how long that will last?" Vanellope finished, becoming emotional. Ralph scooped her up in his "freakishly big" hands and held her close.

"I know it hurts. I know."

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"Tammy, I'm not leaving you!" Felix yelled. She was trying to shove him out of her game, but the little guy could put up a fight.

"Felix, don't be ridiculous! My plug will be pulled any second. Get out!"

"Amazing. She uses my first name for the first time in her life and its when she's about to die!" He thought.

"No. I'm not going!"

"What about your own game?!"

"I'm not leaving you!" Tammy stopped pushing him, and grabbed his collar. "Not fair!" A huge blush was creeping up his cheeks. He was always very insecure about his height around her, but she almost never pointed it out or used it to her advantage. She paused at the exit.

"I love you." She planted a kiss on his lips.

"Tammy, I-I-"

She threw him right out of the game, just as it was shut off forever.

"NO! TAMMY!" Felix cried, lamenting at the exit. Ralph held a sobbing Vanellope. Her men gathered outside the game, calm as ever, though holding tears for their leader. She was tough, but she got the job done.

"I love you, too." He whispered. One tear drop turned into two, and two turned into many.


End file.
